Product innovations

Product innovation absorbs considerable resources in the fine chemicals industry, in part because of the shorter life cycles of fine chemicals as compared to commodities. Consequently, research and development (R D) plays an important role. The main task of R D in fine chemicals is scaling-up lab processes, as described, eg, in the ORAC data bank or as provided by the customers, so that the processes can be transferred to pilot plants (see Pilot PLANTS AND microplants) and subsequently to industrial-scale production. Thus the R D department of a fine chemicals manufacturer typically is divided into a laboratory or process research section and a development section, the latter absorbing the Hon s share of the R D budget, which typically accounts for 5 to 10% of sales. Support functions include the analytical services, engineering, maintenance, and Hbrary. 

W. E. Souder, ManagingNew Product Innovations, Lexiagton Books, Lexiagton, Mass., 1987, pp. 239—244. 

Calantone, R. J., Vickery, S. K. and Droge, C. 1995 Business Performance and Strategic New Product Development. Journal of.Product Innovation Management, 12(3), 214-223. 

Metaphase Metaphase offers a Web-centric information infrastructure that harnesses its customers intellectual capital to drive product innovation and manage the complete product life cycle. 

Polymer/additive analysis is a typical industrial analytical problem, and indeed not one of the easiest or least important ones. Requirements set to industrial analytical expertise vary from new analytical approaches for product innovation, to service-oriented problem solving (combination of analytical expertise and specific product knowledge), and cost-efficient analysis of a few grades (plant service) (Scheme 10.1). Reported prospects set the instrumental trends in the polymer industry (Table 10.17). For traditional quality laboratories this translates into ... 

Obviously, the scope of additive analysis for R D purposes (product innovation and understanding of additive performance), quality control, troubleshooting and competitor product analysis differ (Scheme 10.2). Product knowledge (see Sections 10.1 and 10.2) is particularly desirable for the latter two activities. 

All this means that the priorities in process design are likely to differ significantly, depending on whether a process is being designed for the manufacture of a commodity, fine or specialty chemical. In commodity chemicals, there is likely to be relatively little product innovation, but intensive process innovation. Also, equipment will be designed for a specific process step. On the other hand, the manufacture of fine and specialty chemicals might involve ... 

Often a particular market - antihypertensive drugs, for example - can include products of different types, such as generics and brand products, innovative and non-innovative drugs, and hospital and non-hospital ones, which further complicates their analysis.1... 

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) refers to "new chemicals" as those not on the TSCA Inventory of Chemical Substances which lists about 55,000 existing commercial chemicals. All new chemicals must enter EPA s premanufacture notification program (PMN) for review before manufacture. This program is the most complete record of development of new chemicals by U.S. industry over the past 2 1/2 years. To date over 1,000 notices have been submitted, many including confidential business information (CBI). Despite the CBI, it is possible to summarize EPA s experience with new chemical substances and to evaluate the PMN program and its impact on product innovation. That is essentially the aim of this paper. 

Experience to date reveals the great majority of PMNs to be submitted by large companies, those with annual sales in excess of 100 million dollars. These data alone do not permit either a conclusion that small companies develop very few chemical products nor a conclusion that the PMN requirements of TSCA have severely hindered small chemical companies in their new product innovation efforts. Reference was made to a published study by the Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Association (CSMA) which found that a misperception by industry of PMN testing requirements was a principal reason for the apparent decline in introduction of new products by small ingredient manufacturing firms. 

Neverthless, it is possible to analyze the information supplied by industry on new chemicals and summarize it in a way which does not breach CBI. This is what I have done in preparing this paper and it is the work of many of my cohorts within the Office of Toxic Substances. I intend to summarize the experience of EPA in dealing with these notices including an analysis of the classes and types of new chemicals, market areas, company size and other data. From this I will draw some conclusions about the impact of this requirement of TSCA on new product innovation and will describe what EPA is doing about it. 

Table VI. Program to Minimize Negative Impact of TSCA on New Product Innovation by the Chemical Industry...

EPA s D.G. Bannerman reviewed these impacts on the market introduction of new chemicals. He summarized EPA s experience and analyzed the classes and types of new chemicals, company size, market areas, and, among other data, the number of notified chemicals actually reported to be commercialized. He stressed a new joint industry-EPA program to assist the smaller chemical companies to comply with TSCA, especially with premanufacturing notification. This will minimize negative impacts on product innovation without reducing the effectiveness of EPA s assessment of risks of new chemicals. 

While we in drug development are waiting for this level of mechanistic xmderstanding to evolve, a societal challenge continues There is urgent need for medical product innovation... 

Dougherty, D. 1992. A practice-centered model of organizational renewal through product innovation. Strategic Management Journal, 13 77-92. 

Types of innovation were used (substance innovation, product innovation, application iimovation) and in some instances criteria for determining the level of irmovation (chemical/technical and organisational/institutional, systemic) as a type feature for iimovation systems. 

Garcia, M. A., Ferrero, C., Bertola, N., Martino, M., and Zaritzky, N. (2002). Edible coatings from cellulose derivatives to reduce oil uptake in fried products. Innovative Food Sci. Emerg. Technol. 3, 391-397. 

Great product innovations change the world, improve the way we live, and prepare the foundations to further innovations. How does one distinguish between a good innovation and a great innovation The commonly accepted criteria of a great innovation include one or more of the following aspects ... 

In Part I we examine a number of great historical product innovations. Students of product engineering should study the successful paths taken in the past, learn the problems encountered and solved, and examine the effective methods used, as well as the failures that should be avoided in the future. Chapter 1 is concerned principally with the exploration-discovery phase of the innovation. Chapter 2 is concerned with the tasks involved in the development, planning, commercialization, and business phases of the innovation. 

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